July 6, 2008
Goats Take over Clarkston
It is not as ominous as it sounds… we were there by invitation. Or should I say “registration” since we were there for the 4th of July parade. Mom said several times that she was so glad that we decided not to take them to the local 4H county fair next week. Which of course is the premier event for “local yokels” who are few and far between here in Oakland County. But that was just one of the things we realized as the day went on. See complete list below:
1. Do not bring goats 2 hours early to stay on leashes and stand in line on an asphalt parking lot while you decorate a float (or in our case multiple donkey carts even though they were very well behaved - honest, everyone said so).
2. Do not bring grain in a gallon ziplock bag that can be chewed open.
3. Goats have a strong dislike of marching bands particularly drum sections – even though the Clarkston High School band has declared Toby to be their unofficial mascot.
4. Bring a familiar water bucket from home as they will not drink from a new one.
5. We didn’t need to bring a pooper scooper as the city does this for us – is this too much information for our delicate blog readers?
6. Even several months later our housebreaking has still stuck as our goats would only “go potty” on the grass however we can’t say the same for the mini donkeys.

7. Toby was afraid of the flying candy where as Zoe thought that every piece on the ground was for her to eat which made for an uncomfortable dragging and carrying through town.
8. Windy looks adorable in patriotic dress.
9. Donkeys don’t like to walk down hills with carts as they were like tippy toeing!
10. Policemen do not make any exceptions for animals with teeny legs or otherwise holding up the parade.

When all was said and done the goats were fine and their mommas were cranky from worry. Of course we think it was the goats that won us first place for 4H in the parade - maybe the chickens and donkeys helped a little. And again, phew are we glad that we aren’t taking them to the fair this week – maybe next year.